Days of St. Patrick: Home

March 17

Martin Hynes -- 11:00 - 12:00
Martin Hynes will share a selection of some of his favorite Irish writing enjoyable to people of all ages.  You will hear some of the shorter poems of Yeats, Heaney, Kavanagh, Hopkins and Bollard, as well as a number of prose extracts from Irish greats James Joyce, Frank O’Connor, Maeve Binchy and Niall Williams among others.

Laura Mackenzie -- 12:00 - 1:00 
Laura MacKenzie will perform Celtic music on an array of instruments including wooden flutes, whistles, concertina, bagpipes, gemshorn and voice on St. Patrick’s Day. Audience members of all ages are invited to attend and learn how air is transformed into music and what makes the airs, dance tunes and songs “Celtic.”

This event was made possible through Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Legacy Grant funding provided by the state of Minnesota and coordinated by SELCO (Southeastern Libraries Cooperating). More information on Library Legacy funding, and a complete schedule of legacy-funded events in the region, visit https://legacy.selco.info/.

March 18

Richard Collman -- 2:15 - 3:00
Richard Collman has been playing Celtic Harp since 2008. He is a volunteer in the Northfield Hospital Hospice program with his harp and also plays at churches and civic functions in varied settings.    Since his maternal grandmother's name was Sullivan (O'Sullivan), he feels qualified to sooth troubled spirits with his harp named "Sara" made at Stoney End Harps, Hobgoblin Music, near Red Wing.

Mark McNeill -- 3:00 - 3:30
Mark McNeill has been playing bagpipes off and on for more than thirty years. A Prior Lake resident, he is proud of his Scottish heritage; he frequently gives talks about Scottish history, kilts, bagpipes, and the national dish of haggis. Mr. McNeill has been a local government administrator for more than 45 years, but he now regularly incorporates bagpipes into his second career of being an entertainer at senior and memory care facilities. He also occasionally pipes at civic events and family celebrations.

Tim Madigan -- 3:30 - 4:30
Community members can enjoy an interesting and fun review of Irish history in both Ireland and in the United States. Tim Madigan will give the abridged version of 9,000 years of Irish history and will cover major historical themes and use humor to touch on Irish character and stereotypes. The presentation will be about 50 minutes with 10 minutes for questions. It is part of the Days of St. Patrick, a féile of Celtic culture, a two-day series of events at the library.